Zombie Walk with Mio and Friends
by GreenHuntress
Summary: Zombies and Nichijou. Need I say more? rated M for mostly gore. absolutely no relation to my other Nichijou fics!
1. Infestation

"So, you're going to try and re-animate the dead, is that right?" Nano asked skeptically.

"Nano, it can't be that hard. I made you after all, didn't I?" Hakase pointed out, to the scientific master piece that stood beside her.

"Well, yeah. But, this is different. You can't make something come back after its dead." She tried to explain to the professor, in vain. The young girl fiddled with complex machinery and tweaked wires and buttons on a metal desk. A grotesque figure covered by a pale white sheet lay in the center of the lab on a rusty, otherwise un-used table. It was motionless, and stank only slightly of the maggots that crawled inside its newly thawed skin. "Professor, why do you want to do this?" Nano asked, covering her sensitive robotically engineered nose. Hakase stopped for a brief moment and seemed to ponder the question. But she didn't answer and continued her messing with the machinery instead.

The question was left un-answered.

**Six weeks later.**

Mio had her back pressed up against a wall, and her feet shifting slowly on the ground. She opened her cell phone, and used the dark powerless screen as a mirror to see around the corner. She saw the outline of a human figure reflected on the tiny, unsteady glass of the phone. She was startled by the find, and her eyes grew wide with fear. Her hold on the kendo stick at her side tightened, and she took a few deep breathes before she ran out of the alley way, and charged toward the thing. She only looked at it long enough to see where it was, then she shut her eyes and kept the closed as she held the kendo stick up, and then slammed it down upon her opponent with all the force she could manage. The creature squealed an unholy shriek as its head was being disconnected from its neck bone by the constant hitting of the stick. Mio kept beating the thing, until the sound of shrieking was gone, and only the sound of its bones and flesh being pounded into its frail lifeless body filled the air and replaced the noise of its demonic screams. She opened her eyes just enough to find a place to wipe off the smell of rotting flesh from her kendo sword against a concrete wall.

"Mio-chan!" Yukko called.

"Yukko!" Mio ran over to her friend, and threw her arms around her out of both exhaustion and relief. Mio had been very worried, mostly because her friend was only armed with baseball bat. Yukko looked down at Mio's recently finished work, and seemed dissatisfied.

"Did you break its neck?" She asked.

"I think so. I wasn't looking." Mio answered, avoiding the gore that Yukko looked at so easily. Yukko walked over to it and examined the remains more closely. Wordlessly, she lifted her bat up, and suddenly slammed it down on the things face, sending a splash of blood all over everything within seven meters. She seemed satisfied after that, and stood up as she wiped cold blood of her face with the back of her sleeve. It was already covered in a plethora of blood and smells that would put an open sewer duct to shame.

"Did you make it to the school?" Mio asked. Yukko shrugged.

"Yes, and no." She answered. "I got to the front gate, but I was stopped."

"Are there a lot of unholys there?" She asked, beginning to think all hope of finding a safe haven was lost.

"No, but let's just say I met someone who thinks they already own that place as a shelter." Yukko sighed, feeling little hope for the pair of them.

"Why won't they let us in?" Mio yelled furiously. Yukko shock her head slowly from side to side like a pendulum.

"Well, they did say over the radio that we should evacuate to the Osaka bunker. Maybe the ones at the school feel like they own the place because we were too late in finding our own safe house." She suggested glumly.

"That isn't good enough!" Mio yelled. Suddenly realizing she was too loud, they both looked around for any signs of unholys they'd attracted. When she spoke again, it was much quieter. "That isn't good enough. We need to get in, there isn't anywhere else to go!" Yukko looked distressed then.

"Mio-chan, why didn't we go to Osaka with everyone else?" She asked. Mio lowered her forceful gaze.

"Well, I couldn't leave you here without me, and also there was only enough room in the van for my sister and my mom plus our supplies and the other survivors. Besides, we'll still be in contact as long as I have this." She said, holding up her cell phone, that had been turned off the save power since a few weeks ago.

"Well, I guess we should make the most of this now anyway. Come on, maybe if the both of us go there they'll let us in." Yukko suggested. They started climbing over a chain link fence and out onto an open road the appeared mostly free of the undead. As they walked, they kept their eyes open, and constantly looked around for any danger. They could see the school off in the distance, beyond a vast wasteland of abandoned vehicles and corpses that covered the streets as they rotted and festered on the pavement like roadkill.

"Do you think we should have gone to the professor instead?" Yukko asked as she checked under a car to examine a dead body.

"No. I think she and Nano would have been too smart to stay here. They would have gone far away, and we wouldn't be able to find them if we searched the earth." Mio contemplated aloud. It would be pointless to search for them. They were fine, Mio was sure of that, if nothing else.

They approached the school, where a long chain link fence had been placed to keep unholys out. Yukko looked nervous.

"I think they've already got a small colony in there, and when I came here last, I wasn't exactly welcomed." She chuckled.

"We don't have anywhere else to go. If we can't get in, we might as well join the damned ones right now." Mio said. Yukko stopped laughing. They went over to the gate, and looked for anyone inside the school. They saw no one, and Mio was begging to question her friend's claims. Suddenly a car not but five feet away suddenly exploded and an eruption of fire was created. It engulfed the vehicle inside hundreds of degrees of heat unsuitable for human flesh to withstand. Mio and Yukko jumped out of the way, be landed on the hard ground and their palms were scrapped until the whiteness of their flesh underneath the top layer of their hands was visible. But there was only a bit of blood. Mio stood up quickly, but Yukko stayed on the ground, afraid to show herself.

"Put your weapons up where I can see them!" A stern voice yelled, using the school intercom system to project her voice. Mio held up the kendo sword, and slowly set it down on the hood of a car that wasn't in flames. Yukko stood up and did the same.

"I ran off at this point." Yukko explained, her voice quivering in fear. A figure approached the two from the school's main building, and started walking toward the two trespassers. But neither Mio nor Yukko could see the person well enough to tell who it was. They were covered by a black suit of military armor, and held a big shotgun. Mio squinted her eyes at the apparent stranger. After a minute, the person stood just behind the fence, and stared down at the two through the black tinted windows of their mask.

"Are you infected? What are your names?" The person asked, loading the lever action shotgun. The clink of the bullet being loaded made Yukko and Mio nearly jump in fear. Whoever this was, would have no problem shooting either one of them.

"I'm Mio Naganohara, and this is Yukko Aioi. Neither of us are infected." Mio tried to say, as calmly as possible. The person lowered the gun and reached up to their helmet. As they twisted it slightly, and pulled it off, strands of peach pink hair fell out from inside the helmet, and revealed the face of one of their past upperclassmen, who Mio had only ever known as the girl who stole her boyfriend. Mio clenched her fists and started to wonder how badly she really wanted to get in the shelter.

"Fine, if you two are willing to go through inspection, then you're free to come in." Misato said, still slightly reluctant it seemed to let the strangers through. Yukko's face lit up with joy.

"Really? C'mon Mio! Let's go!" She approached the fence, and was immediately electrocuted. She fell onto the ground and was left a crispy, motionless figure of her former self.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mio yelled, rushing to her friend's side.

"Oh please, she'll be fine. Look, do you two want in, or not?" She asked. Mio looked up from Yukko to the pink haired girl she hated maybe more than zombies.

"Can you take care of us and heal Yukko's wounds? Is there enough supplies for everyone?" Misato rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, of course. Look, do you want a roof over your head tonight, or what?" Mio slowly nodded. "Alright then." Misato turned around and gestured to someone inside the building. There was a snapping sound, and then Misato manually pulled the fence open. Mio dragged Yukko inside by her arms, and Misato closed the door again. There was another snap, and then Misato went on ahead inside the building, cradling her helmet under her arm. Inside, it was mostly empty. Misato led them to the nurse's office, even though they both knew where it was already.

"There are some rules you should be aware of. First, no killing other people who aren't infected, within school grounds. We need to keep what's left of the human population up, so if you want to kill someone, do it outside. Second, we don't have many people here, and if you want to stay, you need to work with the rest of us, and look for supplies when it's your turn. Third, do not, under any circumstances, allow any infected people inside the school. Once you've been bitten by one of those fuckers, you're dead to us. Got that?" Misato said, walking beside them.

"Yeah, and you don't have to help me or anything." Mio grunted as she dragged Yukko down the hall."

"No, I don't. If you two can't take care of each other, why should I let you help take care of the rest of us?" Finally, Mio got Yukko onto a bed in the nurses office. Nakamura-sensei was there, and looked up at the two new people as they entered.

"Survivors?" She asked. Misato nodded.

"The stupid one touched the electric fence. Just get her patched up before she uses up all our medicine."

"Did you find them, or did they come here?"

"They came here. I don't look for survivors anymore, you know that." Misato retorted. "Did afro guy get back from his search yet?" Nakamura changed the subject as she reached into a drawer and found bottles of medicine.

"I didn't see him." She answered.

"Since Yukko is going to be alright, then what should I do?" Mio asked.

"Well, you can start with finding yourself a room. Since there are so few of us, we each get our own classrooms. Boys on the first floor, girls on the second floor. Just put your stuff anywhere, if you have any." She answered.

"I don't have a good weapon, if I went out to look for supplies, could I borrow someone else's while I'm gone?" Mio asked, starting to think in terms of what would be helpful.

"Sure, if they let you. But no stealing. I got all these guns myself, and no one but me is entitled to them until further notice."

"Okay. Are you sure Yukko is gonna be alright?"

"She'll be fine." Nakamura answered, finding ointment for Yukk's burns. With that in mind, Mio left the room and headed upstairs to find a classroom to stay in. It was so weird that so much had happened in only a few weeks. But, at least this place was relatively safe. She noted that the whole building looked aged. Bullet holes lined nearly every wall. Mio started to think that this place wasn't always so zombie free. She wondered how many infected fellow classmates Misato had killed in order to make this place a safe haven for healthy people.

One thing was for certain. In order to live, Mio would have to put her hate for the pink haired bitch aside in order to live.


	2. Revenge

Mio hardly slept all night. The air was strangely thin, and hot despite the apparent coolness of the nighttime breeze. At some point, she gave up altogether and took to walking down the hallways instead of pointlessly trying to sleep on the bed she'd constructed from a pair of desks and a torn blanket she found. The hall was nearly empty, apart from the moonlight shine that dove through the windows and into the school building so brightly.

She made her way to the nurse's office, to the sound of her own footsteps, and nothing more. From what she'd gathered in her short time at the school, this was basically a small colony for any survivors that could make it here. Apparently, it was otherwise an "every man for himself" sort of place. Although, that might have just been Misato's natural cold hearted nature that gave off that tone of dog eat dog around the place. Anyway, it was a completely separate world from the one before, and here, they would all need to fight in order to survive. It was going to be a difficult adjustment to say the least.

Yukko opened her eyes, and her flesh still hurt. Like a sun burn, even the slightest movement caused a seething pain over the top layer of her skin. But, she also noted that she at least had successfully made it into the school. And she was adequately bandaged up.

"Hey, Yukko." Mio greeted. Yukko tried to smile, but it hurt still, and the smile became a grimace.

"Hey, Mio-chan." She said, after she'd given up and laid back down.

"Feeling any better?"

"Not by much. But, it really isn't that bad. I think I could be up by tomorrow." Yukko chuckled.

"Really?" Mio asked, sound unconvinced.

"Yeah, at least, then we can sit down and figure this out better." She suggested. "I still don't know how we're going to adjust."

"Well, I'll go out tomorrow, and look for weapons. That'll be a start." The two friends talked in the dark, and tried to comfort one another. Perhaps the whole of the recent events taken place hadn't taken their full effect yet. It didn't seem to have dawned on them that they'd be beating their old neighbors to death in order to stay alive in the morning.

But Yukko and Mio weren't the only ones losing sleep. There were only a handful of survivors living at the school. All of them were awake. Most laying in bed, waiting for tiredness to force them into sleep, others went about their own business in the night behind the safely guarded fences of the school. The Tachibana girl was one of these. She was on the roof overlooking the scenery as the hellish abominations that the devil himself had refused to accept, crawled about on the ground aimlessly. The chain-link fences that used to keep people from falling off the roof had since been removed and used as part of that fence that protected them. So she was free to stand on the very edge, as dangerous as it was.

"Thinking about another nighttime excursion?" Came the soft, rhythmic voice of the only one who still cared about being polite during the end of the world. And somehow, the girl was still sent warm chills when he spoke. But she shrugged them off and tried not to care.

"I can't let them walk around outside like they own the night. It's disgusting." She growled, not meeting his eyes, knowing she couldn't without losing her cool. But she heard him approach her anyway, and she still flinched a little when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You need to rest sometime. During the day, you make sure people work to keep us safe, you've almost completely taken charge around here. And at night, you kill the undead until you've gotten all that anger out of your system. When will you take a break?" At any other time, Misato might have started blushing at this point, but not now. She actually pushed his hand away, and glared into the distance as she was reminded of recent events.

"The anger is here for a reason." She mumbled. "And that's a fresh wound on me, by the way." She said, not referring to a physical scar.

"I'm sorry." Was all Sasahara could say.

"It isn't your fault, don't apologize. Besides, I took care of her already, its fine." She mumbled, bending over to tie military boots to her feet more securely. When she stood up again, a pair of hands spun her around, and she was forced to look into his eyes for a second. A single wet drop slid down her cheek. She quickly pulled away, and after shoving him to the ground, wiped it away. "What the hell was that? Don't touch me!" She yelled. He ignored that request and stood up, dusting dirt off of his shirt.

"It's not fine. You're obviously still hurting. I don't think you should hunt when your mind is so clouded."

"Why do you care? It's not like you guys couldn't live here without me to manage our defenses."

"Don't talk like that." He said. Sounding just a little bit angry. That was unnatural for him, and of course, Misato noticed that in an instant. "Do you understand how it would be if you were hurt?" He asked. At this, Misato did blush.

"Idiot. You'd manage."

"Perhaps they would, but I'm not so sure about how I'd feel." He said. Misato glared at him angrily. She walked up to him and pointed a pistol at his chest.

"If I would be lucky enough to have died, you'd be spared the sight of my dismembered innards splashed over my death place!" She yelled. "And, if I came back with a bite…" She was starting to cry again, as she remembered her little sister. She dropped the gun, and fell into his arms, without really trying. She'd only lost her will to stand as she recalled the past, but managed to land in Sasahara's willing arms anyway. She went on, her face buried in his shirt.

"If I was bitten, I'd be counting on you to take care of it. I wouldn't want you to wait until I was gone. I'd…want you to finish it so that you could remember me as me, and not one of _them_." She said.

"Tachibana, I don't think I cou-."

"You have to!" She yelled, interrupting him. "Please, just tell me that you would do that for me?" She begged.

"Alright." He said. "I promise." This conversation never would have taken place if not for the sickness. And Misato wouldn't have been in his arms now if it were not for the dead things walking on the ground less than fifty yards away from their embrace. Perhaps that was the only thing she had to be grateful for. It only took a few more seconds for her to shove him away again. When he fell to the ground, she stood up and acted like nothing had happened.

"I'll be back at dawn." She promised. She drew a machine gun and walked off the precarious ledge and climbed down an unstable ladder and walked to a high point where she jumped out on to the other side of the fence.

Sasahara watched as the dead things began stumbling toward the pink haired gunslinger. She wasted no time, and soon the air was filled with the ballad of a thousand angry bullets penetrating the rotting flesh of the walkers, and the shine of fire as each individual bullet was released from the gun without any sign of hesitation. Anyone who had managed to sleep was woken by the midnight disturbance.

What had happened to her? Ever since the outbreak, she never, once shot him. If nothing else was strange, that at least was. And somehow, she just didn't seem quite as flustered as usual when he was affectionate to her. In all honesty, he was extremely worried for her, when he probably should have been more worried about the human race in general.

Misato shot through enormous crowds of walkers, and led the zombies further from the school with each horde she shot down. The bullets were shot at a rate of 600 rounds per minute, after the help of her own few modifications. At that speed, plus the .50 BMG cartridges, she took off their heads with one clean shot to the neck.

She wasn't afraid of them. She used to be, the day it spread to her town. People she knew, her friends and neighbors suddenly congregating around her house, and refusing to leave even till her little sister screamed her lungs dry begging for help. Misato decapitated a woman zombie, along with the two young boy zombies at her side with no visible sign of remorse of sympathy, as she remembered vividly the few seconds it took for everything about herself to change.

They broke down the door, and Misato did her best to fend them off with every weapon in her arsenal. But Mihoshi wasn't good with guns. She couldn't protect herself. She was still only a middle school student at the time. The scream she uttered was ungodly, and Misato could only stare as the disgusting abomination chewed up her sister's arm. She managed to shoot the _thing_ off, but…

"Aaaaaaaggghhh!" She screamed, as a mountain of decay on deadness was forming underneath her feet. The sound was attracting all the dead things from miles away. Her hands were hot from holding the trigger, and her face was covered in old blackish red blood. She could see Mihoshi in her memory, reaching out as the festering scratch on her defiled skin boiled and spread like a deathly stain. Misato didn't know much about zombies at the time, but she knew enough, even then to know that there was no cure.

Now, she was running down a broken down alley way to escape zombies on the run after her. Their eyes rolled back, and teeth coated with a grotesque black plaque. She'd been chased down this place before, and noted the same fire marks on the wall from her last trip there. They were getting faster now and she was wasting time by running. She pulled a grenade off her belt, and started running backward just long enough to pull the key out and toss it into the center of the mob.

And when her sister looked at her with the most miserable, begging, helpless look of a younger sister, it was harder than anything else to pull the trigger. For the first time, she hesitated at the trigger of a gun. But not for long. Misato stopped running, and spun around to watch as they approached her. She didn't take a single step back, and simply waited for the bomb, as she enjoyed every second of their stupid, dumbfounded looks as the fire instantly blazed in a brilliant detonation to warm her skin, and not bring her to flinch for a moment as the fire burned away the bodies of all the damned rotting things.

The explosion sent decaying limbs and organs flying into the distance like a heavy, smelly rainfall. She watched with little expression shown, apart from a smile that slowly formed on her lips as the undead were settled.

That always made her feel better. A disembodied hand started crawling toward her leg, with cracked and yellow fingertips. She shot it with the grey pistol under her belt, and the sound echoed after that of the still ringing grenade explosion. A warm rain came, that would wash away the unholy stink of the aftermath.


	3. Infected

Nano was built with the capabilities to accomplish tasks that few humans could achieve. Such as rocket powered fist punches, roll cake arms, and a few other seemingly pointless additions. But she was also given the ability to adapt to human physiology, and emotion. The unique gift of a heart. If Hakase hadn't given her that, she might not have felt so helpless now.

Nano couldn't tell whether her eyes were opened or closed. The darkness looked exactly like the inside of her eyelids. Not pitch black, but a dark grey, with strange purple, and orange shapes floating against the camera lenses of her eyes. The only thing she was aware of was her own, steady breathing, and the warmness of the black void she was settled in. After a moment, the sound of her name interrupted the silence. She didn't hear it well, and reacted as if it was nothing more than static on a radio. Senseless, and meaningless.

"Nano." Came the weak voice of the professor, again. How many times had she been calling her name? The part of her programming designed to take care of the professor suddenly kicked in.

"Hakase..? What is it?" She asked, speaking for the first time in days, according to her internal clock. Her electrical voice box had remained unchanged over all the time it spent unused.

"Nano…I'm thirsty.." She said, in a faint, dry voice. Nano suddenly remembered the modifications Hakase had made before they both locked themselves down there. She felt around as she crawled, and tried to find the trembling eight year old. She felt dirt, and tiny sharp shards of what she assumed was glass and tin. Eventually, she felt the soft fabric of the professor's lab coat.

"Hakase, I'm here. I'm going to give you some water now, where is your mouth?" She felt tiny hands weakly grasp her own. Nano followed her hands, up to the girl's shoulder, and to her face, which was quivering. She pulled the end of her arm off, where the roll cake had been replaced with a tube that led to a tank of water inside her stomach. That tank was nearly empty. How long had they been down here? If every time Hakase needed a drink, and they waited days in between, could they have stayed here for weeks?

Nano just began to remember where she was. A shelter under the laboratory, that Hakase had blocked off when the zombies came. Oh god, what happened? The little girl eagerly reached for Nano's arm like a baby to a mother's breast, and started sucking the last of the water from within the robot.

"Hakase! Stop, were almost out of water!" She begged, but couldn't bring herself to force the helpless girl away from the water. Nano could feel the last drop of water flow through her, into Hakase's parched little mouth. When it was gone, she kept sucking on the dry tube. Finally, Nano gently pushed the girl away.

"Hakase, that's the last of it. We need to go out and get more."

"No…We can't." Hakase wheezed. "They're still out there…"

"I'm sorry, we need to leave. We can't stay here, you'll die!" Nano pleaded.

"No…" Hakase said, sternly but still so weakly. Luckily, Nano was capable of defying her creator. She reached out slowly, and lifted the eight year old onto her shoulders. It scared her how incredibly light Hakase was. Like she was nothing but life sized paper craft. With one arm supporting her, she used her other hand to pick up the one she'd dropped on the ground to feed the professor. She attached her hand back onto her wrist, and activated her night vision to find the exit.

At that moment, she saw the shelter was miles long, and only a few meters tall. The floor was made from piles of garbage, and failed experiments. But she tried to ignore it, and concentrate on reaching the exit at the other end of the wide room. Making her way over piles of junk, and god knew what else, she made it to the metal door. It had no lock or handle, but a panel on the side with a bright flashing red light. Nano felt a key pad, and pressed the numbers accordingly, 7 7 3 4. The light turned green, and a click rang throughout the deep chamber. Slowly, she reached out to push the door open. But it resisted, like something on the other side was in the way. She pushed again, harder and it still wouldn't budge. She then used all the strength of her animatronic arm to knock it off its hinges. Then she saw what was keeping the door from closing.

Nano covered her mouth, to either keep from gasping, or throwing up whatever it was she had the capability to. Daintily, she tried to avoid stepping on the stinking, festering corpses. With little success, however. Even she wasn't capable of avoiding them as she walked. On her way up the staircase, skull cracked under the pressure of her feet, and spines fractured as she stepped on them to get up. The sound alone was enough to send chills down her metallic back. But the little girl on her back was what kept her moving forward. After what might have been hours, she reached the upper floor, which resembled vaguely her old home.

The shelter certainly had done a nice job of keeping them safe. The zombies there had died again from the electric shock that was sent throughout the house when the two shut themselves up in the dark of the chamber. As Nano walked out, she glimpsed a poster on the wall that read 'same' at the top and bottom.

They left the house, and were blinded by the light of the sun outside. It looked like a ghost town. Nano remembered the last time she looked upon the same scene, when people were going about their everyday lives, like nothing would ever happen.

"Hakase, I'm going to find you some food, ok?" She looked over and saw Hakase clearly for the first time in weeks. Her skin was wrinkly and waterless. Her whole body drained of the liveliness from the last time she saw her. Her eyes weren't the bright, happy blue they used to be. The sockets of her eyes sunken in, like a skull. Her hair was also drained of color, and was greasy and dim. Nano hesitantly stroked the girl's face, to make sure she wasn't just a ghost. Her flesh felt real, at least.

Nano proceeded to walk into a nearby grocery store. She sat Hakase down on the ground only so she could reach the bottled water in the warm fridge. Nano lifted up her shirt just over her stomach, and reached at an almost imperceptible lining. She pulled a door open by digging her fingernails into the crack, and opening up her stomach, where a sack had been added. A few things needed to be removed to make room for it, though Nano couldn't recall what the professor had taken out in her hurry to adequately provide herself with what she would need during the time in the shelter. Nano took bottle after bottle, and as she drank, the sack in the belly was filled, with gallons, and gallons of water. After it was filled, Nano looked at the girl who had now curled up into a fetal position and started sleeping. Nano smiled, knowing that the girl was resting at least. Nano searched the room for food. Although she couldn't store that inside herself, Hakase was reaching her limit, and _needed_ to eat soon. She searched for something for the girl to eat. She randomly grabbed whatever looked nutritious, and ran back to the girl's side.

"Here, eat this." She said, and held out an apple. But the girl didn't move. Nano was suddenly terrified. "Hakase, eat!" She commanded. Hakase took a deep breath in, and out but didn't reach for the apple. "Hakase! Please, eat!" Nano yelled. But still, she didn't budge. Nano took the apple, and a few other things she'd snatched, and used the blender in her leg to mix it all together into a muck of easily digestible vitamins and minerals. She cupped it in her hand and forced Hakase's mouth open. She slowly let the sludgy matter slide down her throat and all the while, was crying uncontrollably. "Hakase, you must eat. Please eat. Please!" She begged.

Nano was about to break down and lose it, until the bell on the door rang as it was opened. Nano stared in horror at the dead man staring at her with a lifeless hungry gaze. It groaned and staggered slowly toward them, as fresh blood dripped down its face.

"Stay away!" Nano screamed, in a tone that would have chilled anyone who knew her by her cheery demeanor. The creature obviously didn't care, and ignored her, approaching Hakase instead, as she was the only thing it could recognize as alive. Hakase didn't even look scared as the dead thing leaned over her and opened its mouth to bite, and released a putrid odor. Before it got the chance to do so though, it was blasted by dozens of bullets in a moment, and was sent falling backward, crashing into the shelves behind it. Nano looked and saw she'd shot it without realizing it. Her right arm had become detached to reveal the gun underneath, now loaded with real bullets, and not beans. She was so surprised at herself, she didn't notice, when four more zombies came in, following the one Nano had just killed.

Nano shot them too, but more followed after them. She ran over to Hakase, and carried her over her shoulder, out the door, and into the street. A crowed was forming outside, and became more excited when they saw Nano bringing the girl to a more easily accessible area.

"Come get her, _I dare you_!" Nano screamed, and ran off with Hakase in her free arm. But as she ran, the horde also ran faster. She couldn't slow down from fatigue, but neither could the zombies. She had to find a safe place for her, where the zombies couldn't find her. Nano briefly considered returning to the lab, but dismissed the idea quickly in favor of a better one. The school. Surely, someone would be there, and if not, it was still almost ideal for defense. Nano found it hard to run now, with the girl slipping under her hold.

She slowed down, with the intent of getting a better grip, but in the second she stopped running, they tackled her, and knocked Hakase out of her arms. "NO!" She yelled at the top of her cybernetic lungs. But the creatures were already nibbling on her skin. She didn't hold back this time, and didn't even seem to care if she hit Hakase. The zombies started falling left and right, and Nano built a pile of decay with the undead as they fell onto the cement ground. After they'd all been shot through the head, and what left of their brains had been splattered like tomato juice over the scene, she ran to Hakase's side. "Hakase!" She yelled. The little girl acknowledged her with a glance from her now grey, fading eyes. A gaping hole was torn up, and bloodied around the young girl's arm, and a bit of green slime coated its edges.

If robots couldn't feel unrivaled detestation toward nonliving hell spawns before, then they could now.


	4. Adaptation

Yukko and Mio were sitting on top of the school building. Yukko's skin had just about healed, and the two were planning on trying their hands at hunting later that day. And the Tachibana girl had offered to teach the useless girls the basics about killing zombies, and retrieving supplies. Mio wasn't the happiest about that and Yukko was indifferent, unaware of her best friend's rivalry with the pink haired girl.

Presently, the gunslinger girl herself showed up on the roof to retrieve the girl.

"Hey newbies, you coming or what?" She growled like a she-wolf.

"Yes, were coming!" Yukko answered. Glad that soon she'd be of some use to the group. They followed her to the ground level floor, where Misato checked in with Nakamura, who was the oldest person at the school sized shelter.

"So, what's on our shopping list?" She asked, getting a shotgun ready by loading it.

"We're fine on food and rations, but we need fuel to keep our generators running, as well as replacements for the freezer in the basement. I could use spare car parts to fix that." She said.

"Alright, I'll see what we can grab. Here," Misato tossed a rifle to each of the girls. "You can borrow these until you find ones for yourselves." Yukko looked both pleased, and frightened to feel the gun in her hands, no doubt imagining what she'd do with it. Mio wasn't thrilled to be using one of Misato's guns. The pink haired girl gestured for them to follow her, and they left the main building until they came to the fence. On the other side, about several zombies could be seen, randomly meandering around the place

"Don't touch it this time." Misato warned. "This fence is powerful enough to fry what remains of a zombies brains. You're lucky it didn't do the same to you." Yukko gulped. There was a click, and Misato fearlessly touched the handle of the fence gate, and pulled it open. Cautiously, they both followed. When Misato closed the door behind her, there was another click when the electricity was turned on again. Misato was unimpressed by the crowed of walking dead, and when one a few feet off snarled at her, baring black chipped teeth, she didn't hesitate to blow its brains out in a swift, violent motion of her arm and trigger finger

They went out where they sat atop a high building, where they practiced distance shooting for a few hours.

"Don't shoot until you know exactly where to aim. But don't be stingy, either. The last mistake you'll make is not checking if you really did hit what you aimed for. Don't bother shooting at the limbs or middle body, just aim for the head, unless the hell spawn is over fifty feet away, then focus on the center and weaken it until you can get a better shot, if you need one." They weren't so good a shooting from a distance, but Misato said that was fine, as long as they could shoot at all, that was something. Then they practiced close range shooting.

Close range was undoubtedly more difficult. Misato sat at a distance, while Yukko and Mio were in the middle of the fray, so that Misato could test whether they really were worth the rations that they spent on them to keep them alive. Mio didn't like it at first, but quickly, killing the undead became much more natural. Once Misato judged that they had worked up enough practice, they actually went out to more dangerous territory to scavenge for the supplies they needed.

They went to an abandoned market. A few cars lined the street, and Misato searched through them, like a wild cat selecting the best of the pigs for slaughter.

"This one will work nicely. It's got a good engine. Can either of you drive?"

"Um…" Mio started.

"Fine, I'll just wing it." She decided. "Cover me please." She said, leaning down into the front seat, and messing with the wires underneath the steering wheel. Yukko went over to the back, and looked out for any zombies, while Mio stood closely to the car, looking around uncomfortably.

"So… We never really met." Mio said.

"Indeed." Misato said, not taking her attention from her work. Mio sighed.

"…Okay, I'm gonna get to the point. Remember back before the zombies, and we were both in high school? In different grades, but I…saw you once."

"Yeah? What about it?" She asked, still fiddling with the cords.

"Well… I remember you…Holding _his_ arm." Mio accused. Misato froze. Then, after a second, she pressed a button, and got the car started. Its engine growled to life as Misato sat back in the front seat and tried to relax her face which was worked up in a tight frown, despite a bit of pink on her cheeks now.

"T-that was just…Whatever, that's not important. What is it to you anyway?"She snapped.

"Well…I sort of…Am also in love with Sasahara." Misato looked up at Mio, and that look quickly changed into a fierce glare.

"I see." She said. Misato didn't look so much angry, as annoyed. Like Mio didn't even deserve to be called a rival, more like a pesky fly. "Look, little girl. It's the end of the world, I have hundreds of deadly weapons hidden under my clothes right now, that I could kill you with in an instant, and I guarantee, if your buddy over there cared, I could shoot her too. But, I'm not going to be bitch about this. I'll let you do whatever it is you plan on doing, but trust me, it won't help."

"We'll see. Besides, it is the end of the world." Mio said, grinning.

"The hell do you mean by that?" Misato demanded.

"Well, you know… As far as we know, the people at the school are the last ones alive for possibly hundreds of miles. It might be…You know…Necessary for us to repopulate the earth." Mio suggested. Her face burning up as she thought of things no human should be forced to see. Something that held Misato's temper suddenly snapped.

"Shut the hell up! I said I wouldn't shoot you, that doesn't mean I'll let you anywhere near him!" She yelled. Misato blushed even fierce when she heard how protective she sounded. But before she could say anything else, either to disregard what she'd said, or accentuate it, they heard a cry from the distance. Yukko ran a little ways to see what it was. She called back to the two and said,

"Mio-chan! Come quick!" Mio dutifully left the side of the car in favor of running to where Yukko had directed. Mio looked and saw Nano, carrying Hakase in her arms just across the parking lot.

"Mio-chan? Yukko-chan?" The robot asked, her voice sounded more desperate then frightened.

"Nano! Over here!" Mio called.

"Shush! The undead can hear you!" Misato warned from inside the car, that she'd driven up to them so she could see.

"We need to take her back with us!" Yukko told Misato desperately.

"She might have a bite." Misato said.

"No, she'd a robot, she'll be fine."

"Alright, but hurry up, it's getting dark, and we're attracting attention." Yukko and Mio ran through the many old dusty cars, and went to Nano's side.

"Oh thank God, you guys are ok…" Nano breathed, seeming very tired.

"Is Hakase alright?" Yukko asked, seeing the girl draped over Nano's shoulder like a blanket. Nano was silent, and she and Mio exchanged glances. Before Yukko could understand, Mio jumped in.

"come on, let's get you guys to the car." Mio carried the girl into the backseat of the car, covering up a bloody rotting mark on the girl's shoulder with her sleeve to make sure Misato didn't see. Yukko led Nano inside the car, and they got inside safely. Nano collapsed, her system shutting down all but her vital functions to rest herself for a moment. Misato did a U turn, and drove off back down the grass covered street toward the school.

Mio tried to excuse why she'd pretended that Hakase wasn't infected. She told herself that only a heartless person like Misato could kill a living person, but then again, she probably only protected the dying girl because she'd known her. Misato just didn't care about who she knew or not, and did what was necessary. Mio could never bring herself to shoot someone she knew. A zombie, yes, because they were ugly and evil, but the blond girl that laid in her arms now, was so innocent.

Misato got out to signal the gate to be turned off while they drove in. As soon as the car stopped, Nano and Mio got out of the car.

"What happened?" Mio asked. Nano started crying, but couldn't form any words to answer.

"Did you get my stuff?" Nakamura asked as she approached. As soon as the teacher saw Nano, she ran up to her.

"Shinonome! You're alive! How did you fend off the zombies? I've been looking all over the city for you! Where did you go?" But Nano didn't even have enough time to say that Nakamura was being creepy, she couldn't shake off that feeling in her circuits when she thought about what the violent girl might do to Hakase if she knew. Nano's defense systems were at the ready. She would defend her creator to the best of her ability.

"Hey, what's wrong with the kid?" Yukko asked, stupidly. Everyone froze. Nano, with fear. And Misato, with sudden realization.


	5. Protection

Nano rushed over to Hakase's side.

"No one's going to touch her!" Nano yelled, holding her gun hand out as a weapon. Misato glared. Without missing a beat, she pulled a shotgun out, and pointed it squarely at the girl in Nano's arms. She wasn't afraid of an android, much less one with a cute screw sticking out of its back.

"If she's infected, there's no helping her. I'm sorry robot, but it'll be easier if I do this quickly." Misato warned. Not a trace of sympathy for a dying girl in her voice. Nano knew in her animatronic heart that it was true. But, how could she defy her programming and allow anyone to destroy her creator? Everyone was quiet, knowing it was true, but unable to take part in killing the little one.

"Wait… Nano." The dying girl wheezed. Everyone looked at her. Hakase stood up on her own, but it was clear that it wasn't easy for her. Her face was dry looking, and wrinkled like a child's face ought not to be. "I…can…fix it…" Hakase said.

"What do you mean? You can fix the bite?" Nakamura asked, sounding astonished at the scientific impossibilities.

"I… can fix…it." She repeated. Misato lowered her gun a little, but looked unconvinced. Every one of the survivors at the school was now forming a crowd around them. Including Sasahara. But Misato wasn't afraid of shooting a child in front of him, although it did hurt her for him to have to see it.

"Please, Tachibana. Let her try." Nakamura suggested.

"What, this dumb little girl? She's already turning! We need to finish her before her pain affects us all." Misato said.

"Not true, she created the most advanced robot in the world only a year ago, when she was seven. She might be useful. Think of the possibilities!" She pleaded. Misato was basically the leader around the school, because she had the weapons, and guts to fight off the zombies and make a fort out of the place. Everyone knew, if she didn't find the girl worthy to live, she would kill her. And no one was willing to fight the girl with the biggest guns. She didn't lower the gun, but looked carefully at the girl, whose skin was losing color already. Finally, she lowered the gun.

"Alright, but on one condition; if she can't cure herself by the time she wants to eat us, then I shoot her. Got that?" No one said a word. "Good." She walked out of the crowed and walked right past Sasahara without looking him in the eyes. People lost interest, satisfied that when things started going wrong, Misato would do everyone's dirty work. Nano and the others led Hakase into the nurse's office.

Once inside, they sat the girl on a bed. Nakamura immediately started showing Hakase her own experiments on the disease, and told her where all the materials and equipment were. But, of course Hakase seemed absent minded. She almost had a blank expression, and only responded to questions with the shortest of replies.

"Nano-chan, honestly, I'm not sure if we can do it." Mio said hopelessly. Nano ignored her.

"Hakase, it's going to be alright, ok? You're going to make something, I know you can." She encouraged.

"Can we help at all?" Yukko asked.

"No, I think you should leave. Don't worry, we'll help the professor, it'll be just fine." Nakamura said. Slowly, they left and Nano thanked the science teacher. Hakase was leaning over, as if tired. Nano was about to rest her head down so she could rest, but Nakamura stopped her.

"No, sleep speeds up the process. And besides, we need to start work as soon as possible. That means now." She said. Nano nodded, and helped Hakase sit up.

"Thank you. You know, I thought you were sort of creepy before, but I'm glad that you're a nice person after all." Nano grinned.

"Uh, right." She said, mentally deciding she should save her inspection of Nano's internal parts for another time. Their tireless work would last deep into the night, without stop, or rest. Nakamura had the help of her coffee, and neither Hakase, nor Nano could sleep.

Misato wasn't sleeping, again. She sat atop the roof, contemplating whether she should go out to hunt again that night. She was addicted to killing those walking dead fuckers. And maybe, her addiction more unhealthy than a normal drug would be. Sure enough, Sasahara came onto the roof eventually like he always did. Misato pretended not to care.

"What do you want?" She asked. Sasahara didn't answer, but kept walking toward her, until he was just a bit closer to her than normally comfortable.

"You're back. Did you get any scars?" He asked, reaching out to examine her arm. She pulled it away quickly, but not before her face began burning hot.

"Cut it out! What's with you? You've been so…weird ever since you got here." She said. Not wanting to interpret his actions as affectionate.

"I'm sorry. But, I want to help you." He explained.

"Why? Can't you see that I can take care of myself?" Sasahara looked upset then, but reluctantly brought up the topic Misato was still very sensitive about.

"When I heard what happened to your sister, I was sure you'd be in need of at least some moral support. I wanted to assist in any, and every way I could" He offered. Misato chuckled without humor.

"So what, are you my personal guard now?" She asked, sarcastically.

"Only if that's what you want." He said. Misato felt warmer in her cheeks.

"S-shut up. That's stupid." She said dismissively. "Apocalypse is reigning, and all you do is start talking romantically in the moonlight." A few seconds passed before she realized what she said, and immediately tried desperately to disregard it. "No, wait! I didn't mean it like that! I don't find you romantic, just charming. No wait! I didn't mean that either!" Sasahara let out a loud, comforting laugh. Misato stopped talking, but her face still burned the peach color of her hair.

He came closer to her once more, this time Misato didn't push him away. Maybe because she was too startled to, or maybe because her previous thoughts had sent her mind down a path of thoughts that made her reluctant to send him away. The thoughts become more prominent when she thought of the blue haired bitch.

"You know, you shouldn't stand so close. That blue haired little girl might get the wrong idea if she spots us." She said. Sasahara looked confused for a second, and then remembered who she was talking about after a moment.

"Do you think she has feelings for me?" He asked, sounding no more than a bit surprised.

"That's what she said to me. But it isn't like I care or anything. Besides, it's not like…you're mine or anything." Her voice faded as she spoke the last of those words, but Sasahara heard them.

"Would you feel better if I was?" He asked, the slightest smile spreading across his normally neutral expression. Misato's face turned as red as a bloody tomato within seconds. Her arms and legs were shaking like a minor tremor was under her feet, and her hair stood on end. Her breaths came in short, deep gasps, and if not for the redness of her skin, she would have appeared terrified.

"W-w-what the hell do you mean? What are you talking about? Are you fucking retarded? That's the dumbest thing I've heard!"

"And? Does that mean you won't be mine too?"

"I mean it! Shut the fuck up! You're starting to sound serious!" Misato held her arms out in front of herself defensively, but didn't back away, or fight him off when Sasahara came to stand directly before her. But her muscles were tense, and her expression was mixed between a hateful glare, and a more hopeful look of desire. Before she could react, his arms had wrapped around her in a tight embrace, and began to squeeze the aggression out of her.

She'd wished for nothing more than his embrace ever since they first met. But it still caught her off guard, and she fought the ever present urge to pull a gun from her pocket and get an obvious point across. But, in these crazy times, the last thing everyone needed was one less survivor. He quietly whispered into her ear then.

"I just need an answer before the day comes when you lose your fight against the undead." He said. That settled it. He was definitely serious. She was quiet, but after a moment replied,

"Shouldn't you ask for an answer by some nearer point in time?" She tried to make a joke, but Sasahara didn't seem amused. He was genuinely worried that she might die. Honestly, out of everyone, he should probably have worried for himself a bit more. Misato didn't try to pry herself out of his grip this time, knowing that if she did he would let go with little to no hesitation. And she actually wanted to spend as much time as she could right where she was. "I'll…think about it." She said, mumbling into his shirt, where her face was buried.

Far below, on the ground where the unspeakable dead lurked, a black cat hissed at the crawlers that chased him slowly. He growled at the creatures, his fur standing up on end as he filled the silence of the night with his feral screams. He could hear the electrical current running through the fence, and hurriedly looked for another entrance. Suffice it to say, it wasn't easy to get inside. The place was built so that nothing could.

His meows weren't loud enough to draw someone near. Dammit, if only he hadn't lost his scarf. He saw there was a big car near the fence. He quickly climbed atop it. Zombies didn't have good enough heel strength to jump as far as they could normally. And even normally was nowhere near as far as a cat could jump. He stood on the hood, and took in a deep breath as the beasts behind hungered after his own beastly flesh.

When he jumped, he half expected to hit the fence and die. A cat couldn't withstand that kind of voltage. Even though, he'd survived much worse punishments before at the hands of a mere child. The pads of his feet grazed over the fence, and he felt the active electrons in the metal dancing just the smallest splinter of distance beneath his feet as he pulled his legs forward, and landed on the ground.

He looked back at the dead things, who stupidly ran into the fence, and instantly, the night was filled with the blazing light of a hundred car lights, and the unholy howl of the demonic thing as it cooked followed closely after the light. He shivered, thinking that could have been him. He'd been so brave up to that point, but when he thought of himself in the zombies current position, he fell over unconscious.


	6. Regret

When Sakamoto woke up, he was laying on a soft surface for the first time in months. He was grateful when the first faces he saw were those of his friends.

"_Meow, meow. Meow hiss!" _He cursed when he remembered that he'd lost his scarf.

"Is it Sakamoto?" Yukko asked.

"I don't know. It looks like him, but I can't tell without his scarf." Mio said.

"We should take him to Nano, she'll know for sure." Yukko suggested, probably her first good idea in a long while. The cat's ears perked at the sound of the girl's name. The girls took Sakamoto to the nurses office, where Hakase was still being treated, by herself. When they walked into the room, they saw Hakase injecting a fluid into her arm with a needle. The liquid was an inky black, and Yukko shuddered as she saw it go into her blood. The cat jumped out of Mio's arms before anyone could say anything, and jumped up onto the girl's lap.

Hakase stopped what she was doing to look down at the cat.

"Ah…Sakamoto…" She said, in an exhausted voice. Sakamoto was shaking as he looked at her. Her skin was colorless, and her face was sunken in. She looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"Sakamoto-san!" Nano said coming into the room.

"You're sure it's him?" Mio asked. Nano nodded.

"But, what happened to his scarf?" She asked. Hakase looked up.

"It doesn't matter. I can rebuild one." She said, in the same passive, unenergetic voice. She slid off the bed, and started walking toward the equipment. Nano stood in her way, stretching her arms out to block her path.

"No, Hakase! You need to be still!"

"But… Sakamoto needs his scarf." Hakase argued, dully. Nano couldn't bring herself to stop her. She watched, helplessly as the little girl walked past her and began working with the material there. It didn't take more than a few seconds to create an exact replica of the old red scarf. Hakase smiled a little, when she bent down and tied it around his scruffy black neck.

"Hey, kid… You should listen to Nano." Sakamoto said unable to bring up his scolding tone to her. Just looking at her, he knew what had happened. There was a long silence, until Sakamoto looked up at everyone. "Can you guys give me a minute with the kid?" He asked. Nano looked apologetically at Nakamura. The teacher sighed, but seemed to understand the circumstances. She led everyone out of the room so the cat could be with the girl. "Hey, kid. Looks like your alive." He said. Hakase smiled.

"Sakamoto, I'm glad…that you're okay." She said, sitting on the floor and petting his fluffy black fur. Sakamoto caught a glimpse of the festering black scar on her shoulder under an old bloody bandage. He quickly looked away before Hakase could see him looking at it with such a horrified expression.

"Listen, kid… I was worried sick about you and the girl. I'm not mad about what you did when the infection spread. I mean, I could easily take care of myself when you locked yourselves where it was safe. But, next time at least tell me when you're leaving. I went back looking for you two, and was greeted by a swarm of the things. I was so worried…" He trailed of when he realized that she was hardly listening to him.

"Sakamoto…" She said happily, petting his head. Sakamoto sighed. But, he was glad that she was okay.

Shortly, the others came back into the room. The less time they wasted the better. Since Sakamoto could talk again, they passed the time as Nano, Nakamura, and Hakase all tested various chemicals and equations by talking about what they'd seen and heard.

"I'm surprised you girls survived this long. I didn't picture you guys as the zombie slaying type."

"Well, you do what you have to to survive." Yukko shrugged.

"I know, but I can't picture you guys shooting dead things. However, that one girl with the glasses, I can picture killing zombies."

"Wait, you mean Mai-chan? Have you seen her?" Yukko asked. Sakamoto looked surprised.

"You didn't know? She's up on the very top of the city's highest skyscraper. I know because I saw her gathering frozen foods from the lower floors once." He said.

"You mean you knew where Mai-chan was, and never said anything?"Mio yelled. Sakamoto looked taken aback.

"Calm down, last I saw, she was safe. I didn't think that would be a problem."

"Stupid cat! Mai-chan is my friend! Of course we'd be looking for her!" Mio stood up suddenly and headed out the main door.

"Where are you going?" Yukko asked.

"To find Mai-chan!" Mio yelled over her shoulder. They managed to get Misato to rig the car, and escort them to the skyscraper. Yukko and Mio were once again armed with weapons they borrowed from Misato. Upon arriving at the building, Mio and Yukko promptly got out of the car and walked inside.

"Hold up a sec." Misato called to them, grabbing her own weapons, and leaving the car.

"Shouldn't you stay with the car?" Mio asked, annoyed that the girl would accompany her. Misato didn't look up as she closed the driver's door, and heaved a medium sized automatic rifle over her shoulder.

"It's better if I come. Think about it. If I stay with the car, both of you could die. But, I help you, all we stand to lose is a car." She said, and walked past them into the building. Once inside, Misato searched the room, not turning a corner without holding her gun firmly in her hands, ready to shoot at anything that moved. Once it seemed mostly clear, she nodded to the other two, and Yukko immediately ran to the elevator.

"What do you think you're doing? Don't use that!" Misato stage whispered, just before  
Yukko could press down on the white button.

"Why?"

"It'll attract a swarm, idiot!" Mio said. Yukko chuckled off her own stupidity, and they searched for the stairs. Sufice it to say, Mio and Yukko decided they'd rather have taken their chances than walk the hours it took to reach the higher floors. But there was no turning back now, and Misato wouldn't risk something so stupid. Finally, Mio lost her footing and fell onto the stairs. She wasn't hurt much, but was too tired to stand again.

"Mio! Are you alright?" Yukko asked.

"Get up. We need to get there and back before nightfall." Misato growled.

"I can't! I'm exhausted!" She yelled.

"Fine then. Stay here." Misato shrugged, and walked over her to continue upward. Yukko stayed with her friend, but tried to encourage her to stand.

"Mio, let's go find Mai-chan." She suggested. Mio somehow managed to stand, but was panting heavily, and her knees felt weak.

"Damn her." Mio said, and proceeded to climb the staircase.

After a few more levels, they reached the roof. Misato somehow had enough energy to kick down the iron door off its hinges. The roof seemed empty at first, but then, they all saw a small blue tent there. At least it seemed Sakamoto was right.

"Mai-chan!" Yukko ran over to the tent.

"Wait!" Misato yelled. But Yukko had already pulled the cover of the fabric open. Misato was behind her in a flash, holding her gun, ready to shoot. But no one was there. There was however, a bucket there. A bucket filled with a grey semi-liquid that reeked of innards and blood. They both promptly covered their noses to stop inhaling it.

"I didn't think you would fall for it." Mai-chan said, from behind a wall, where a genuine camp was set up.

"Mai-chan?" Mio exclaimed, as she appeared, dressed in an outfit well equipped to handle zombies, as well as outdoor camping. Whereas Mio and Yukko were dressed in their everyday clothes.

"The brains attract them, and the shot guns rigged to it blow their heads off so I can refill the bucket." She explained. Yukko was a bit more frightened when she realized that she could have had the same fate.

"Mai Minakami?" Misato asked. Mai nodded. "Alright. We've got a car down below that can take you to our base. It's likely a fair bit more comfortable than up here, so if you want to come with us, we're leaving now." Mai-chan didn't answer directly, but started packing up all her useful things. Mio and Yukko helped carry her things. She didn't have much. Some packaged food, and a few guns mostly.

"Shall we go?" Yukko asked her. Everyone wanted to leave quickly, so they could get back equally as fast. Mai put her fingers in her mouth, and whistled loudly. Two dogs came rushing happily toward her, panting loudly from behind a water tank where they had been hiding. A big brown dog and a little white one. They looked well fed, despite the noticeable ten pounds their master had lost. Mio didn't want to think what they'd been eating. Because despite all the brains in the bucket, no other remains were visible.

They all headed down the stairs, going a bit quicker thanks to the gravitational bonus they received by going downhill.

"I think we might have attracted unwanted attention up there. If we run into any zombies while we're on the stairs, we're screwed." Misato said as she ran.

"You know, you didn't have to come anyway." Mio said.

"Come on… I couldn't just let you guys get yourselves killed." Misato joked.

"I bet you just want to go back to Sasahara, as the hero." Mio accused. Misato stopped running and turned around to glare at her, putting her equipment on the ground.

"Can you shut the hell up about that for five minutes? I'm not trying to impress anyone, is it so hard to believe I'm trying to help you?" Mio dropped her things as well in order to yell more effectively.

"There's only enough room for me, my future husband, and all the kids we're going to have." Mio said, smiling evilly as she thought of her "future children". Yukko dropped her things to go back and break up the fight.

"Hey guys, lets settle this thing later, ok?" She suggested, positioning herself between the two.

"Sasahara doesn't love you! And I wouldn't believe it even if he said so himself." Misato yelled, without any great reason to stay silent. Mio pushed Yukko away and stood directly in front of the pink haired girl, who was now fuming with rage.

"Well, I didn't see him confess his love to you either!"

"He will! And he'll love me better than you could ever hope for anyone to love you!" With that, Mio was about ready to kick Misato out of the window behind her. But Yukko jumped in the way again to try and stop them, just before Mio had a chance to complete the kick. In midair, all of them suddenly realized what was happening. But it was too late. The force of the kick was enough to send Yukko's body against the wall, breaking through the glass of the window sending shards every which way, and send the girl flying out of the window, falling down tens of stories. Mio looked out, horrified at what had happened. Every cell in her body wanted nothing more than a way to go back and fix it. She prayed with all her heart and soul that Yukko would miraculously be safe.

All her futile hopes were dashed after the faint sound of flesh hitting dry pavement echoed for a great distance, and was clearly heard in the stunned silence of the room.H


	7. Comfort

Everyone stared in horror at the newly broken window. Mio stared at it, as if doing so could magically turn back time. The dogs at Mai-chan's side whimpered quietly, while their master was at a loss for words. A deep, rumbling groan from further down the staircase brought Misato out of the shock. She readied her gun, and aimed it at the reanimated corpse coming up towards them. She fired without hesitation, and the sound echoed all throughout the building.

"Let's get moving!" She yelled. Mio was still motionless. Mai ended up having to grab her arm and drag her down the stairs before her legs would move. The sound would undoubtedly attract many more undead demons from all over the building.

"Shit! I knew this would happen!" Misato cursed, clearing the way down of all the walking dead with the gun in her hands. Mio was still too shocked to react appropriately. Running back down the stairs seemed exceptionally easier, with less energy being used, and the need to be quiet gone. They were already halfway down, and the zombies were starting to crowd the stairs. A door flung open, just as Misato ran passed it, and she was unable to react in time as the rotting creatures swarmed out toward the other two.

But it was obvious then the Mai hadn't just been doing nothing when she was hiding up on the roof. Her big dog quickly seized the opportunity to sink its sharp, yellowed teeth into the festering muscles around the dead man's neck. The canine expertly ripped the head off, with all the skill of one who had been doing it for years. As the tendons of flesh, and sections of spine were separated from each other, the monster fell motionless on the ground. It allowed just enough time for Mai to blow the heads off a few other damned things blocking the path.

The little dog, however wasn't strong enough to send the hell spawns back where they came, and instead focused on evading their attacks by swerving and dodging between their feet as it ran past. They were almost clear of the monsters, and were heading to the main level. Misato tried to open the door normally, but it seemed to have automatically locked itself behind them when they went up the stairs. She yelled angrily, and kicked the iron door off its hinges with a powerful impact to the center of the door, beside the handle.

The inside of the main room, was now occupied by dozens of them. They all craned their broken, bloody necks to look at the only living people in the building. Misato loaded another set of bullets, and looked fearlessly back at them.

"Come and get some." She taunted. All Mio could see after that was the flashing light of firearms, and the smoke rising from out of the muzzles of the guns. Mai's large hunting dog entered the fray without so much as a moment of hesitation. It leapt upon the festering corpses gladly as bullets flew through the air without any mercy. In seconds, a path had been cleared for them to walk safely through. They had enough room to escape, so neither Misato nor Mai wasted bullets on anymore of them. Mai called her dog away from the dead ones, and they rushed outside toward the waiting car.

As they ran outside, Misato glanced to the side, and quickly looked forward again.

"Mio! Don't look over there!" She warned, as she jumped into the driver's seat, and revved the engine. Mai jumped into the backseat, and her dogs quickly followed her. But Mio just could help but glance for a moment in the direction Misato had warned her not to. She immediately regret the decision, and would for the rest of her life.

There, lying unceremoniously on the cement, she was nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the scattered cadavers around the street. Her body was mangled and distorted. Her leg had snapped upon impact, and was curled over her head, with the bone clearly sticking out of the flesh. But her face was up, and her last expression clearly cemented on her face. What was worse, her eyes had stopped so that from where Mio stood, she could easily have been looking right at her. Yukko's face looked so innocent. So full of shock. The last thought in her mind must have been wondering why it had to end like this. But she obviously wasn't thinking anymore. Her brains were hardly in any condition to think, being splattered like the insides of a tomato all around her for a good three meter range.

Mio wanted to vomit. And the only thing she could think was how she was the last one to touch her. And how that shove intended for the pink haired girl had been her undoing. She never meant to hurt her. Never. The more she looked at it, the harder it was to tear her eyes away from the scene. Her eyes were held in place by a mixture of guilt, and disgust.

"What the hell are you doing? Get in!" Misato yelled. Mio forced her eyes away, only because of the sound of heavy, clumsy footsteps closing in on her all around. She leapt into the car, hitting her arm on the door as she jumped inside. She winced in pain, but the car was already swerving out of the parking lot, and speeding back in the direction of the school in no time. Several unprepared zombies standing in their wake were flattened under the wheels of the car.

Then, everything started to settle. Mai combed her fingers through knots in her dog's shaggy fur. Misato's breathing slowed, and she drove the car more calmly, but just as fast down the road. Mio continued to stare blankly at the back of the seat in front of her. The minutes that passed weren't nearly long enough to settle her nerves. When the car stopped outside the gate, all was silent in the car. Misato signaled someone on the inside to temporarily turn off the gate so they could get in.

The vehicle came to a halt on the inside, and the gate was turned on again. Misato and Mai left the car, but Mio found it more difficult to move. Misato wanted to apologize. Mio just looked so pathetic, and she knew it was partly her fault. If she hadn't snapped, then their feud wouldn't have escalated to the point that resulted in Yukko's death. But she also knew nothing she could say would make it any better.

Mai-chan was told the rules, and she wasted no time finding a spot to claim for herself to sleep. Her dogs followed her up to her room loyally. Misato went to put her gun away back at her room. It was getting dark then. She knew that the guilt she felt was useless, regardless of whether it was justified. She should have been used to letting a few people die for the sake of many, by now. She let out a tired sigh. _God,_ _I'm so tired of this. _She thought as she turned around. Her eyes met the calm, collective eyes of Sasahara. But she didn't realize until she laid eyes on him that the only thing in the world she wanted was to cry in his arms. At least there, she wouldn't have to let people die.

She let the thought sink into the back of her mind, with the rest of her desires when she realized how stupid it was. The brief blush on her cheeks didn't go unnoticed.

"What do you think you're doing here? Boys aren't supposed to be on the upper floors." She scolded. But her tone was noticeably less aggravated than usual.

"I'm sorry, I must have forgotten." He said, as he approached her. "You seemed more upset than usual, I want to know what's wrong."

"Nothing. Why is it your business anyway?" She asked. He didn't answer. Instead, he changed the subject.

"Two other survivors found their way here today. They had no weapons, and frankly it's a wonder they lasted this long."

"What about the little girl, named Hakase? How is her condition?"

"It's gotten worse. As far as I can tell, she's too far in her transformation to work on the cure anymore. Nakamura and Nano are working on a cure with some of Hakase's research."

"Do you think they still have a chance?"

"I have my doubts." He confessed. Misato looked at the ground. Her pink hair covered her eyes, and her expression was harder to read. After a few quiet seconds, she spoke.

"Hey…Kojiro?" She asked, un-characteristically sweetly, and sad at the same time. "If…I have to kill her, I know I'll be a murderer. But…would you… not think badly of me for it, please?" He answered by reaching out his hand to touch her face. It was only for a second, but it was enough to send startled shivers down Misato's back. Even so, she didn't push him away, like she might otherwise have done.

"I promise that nothing you do could change how I think of you." He said. It was the answer Misato had hoped for, but somehow when he said it, it sounded much more affectionate. His hand move up to her head, where he twirled the strands of her hair in his hand for a moment before turning to leave. She was frozen in shock, like a frightened animal. He was never quite so affectionate before the apocalypse, when a romance between them would have worked out easier. Before he departed, he looked back at her to say one last thing. "Misato, you asked why it was any of my business why you were upset." He paused to make sure she was listening. Sure enough, she seemed completely focused on him. "It's because I love you." He said, and turned to leave.

Yuria Sekiguchi and Kenzaburo Daiku had decided to share the old club room as a shelter. Somehow, it just seemed safer there. After all, the two had nearly spent every free hour after school there the entire time they'd been at high school. It was growing dark and they'd have to turn in soon. It was against the rules for boys and girls to sleep on the same levels, let alone, the same room. The last thing everyone needed was everybody sleeping together at the end of the world, and brink of humanity's destruction. But the only reason they both survived was thanks to one another's company. Yuria didn't think she could sleep without Daiku in the room with her. She felt that nightmares of dead things would follow her there without his presence.

"Hey, Sekiguchi." He said, as he unrolled a sleeping bag for himself. "I think we'll be okay here. They've got an electric fence, and everything." Yuria nodded. She crawled inside her own sleeping bag, and briefly rolled over to find the most comfortable position to lie. The lights were already off, so as to not give away their rule breaking.

Hours after Kenzaburo had fallen asleep, Yuria found herself uncomfortably cold. The gentle, soothing sound of Daiku's deep breathing assured her that he was asleep. Slowly, she rolled her bag over closer to him. She would have said that it was to share body heat, and stay warm. But that was only partly true. She wouldn't miss the opportunity to be even a little bit closer to him.

Daiku woke up some time in the night. But it wasn't out of discomfort, or being startled by a loud noise. In fact, he felt warm.


	8. Breaking Point

Sakamoto woke up when he felt something gnawing on his tail. He jumped, and instinctively his fur stood on end to ward off any predator. He glared at his attacker, only to realize it was only Hakase. Sakamoto couldn't quite decide whether that relieved him, or made him more concerned. Her eyes were nearly colorless, like a wasteland after great flames consume all foliage.

"Oi, Kid. Don't nibble on my tail!" He scolded. Hakase didn't seem to have heard him. She continued to stare blankly at the cat. Once she realized she had nothing more to chew on, and Sakamoto was out of reach, she brought her hand toward her mouth, and began chewing on her fingers. Sakamoto was startled by her behavior, and tried to get her to stop. He started pawing at her face, to distract her from the taste of her own flesh.

"Kid, don't eat yourself! You'll need that hand in order to finish the cure…" His voice trailed off as he finished the word. But he shook his head, and dispelled the brief moment of doubt in his mind. That painful, looming, cloud of foggy doubt that he knew he couldn't bear to cope with. No, he had to stay optimistic.

Hakase smiled, but didn't say anything other than a faint 'Sakamoto…' in response to him. Sakamoto looked back at the dying girl, regretfully. He instant wanted to take back every mean thing he'd ever said to her. If only he knew before how much time he had. Sakamoto resisted his tail being grinded by the girl's young, sharp teeth. But regardless, he would have felt better if he could sit beside the girl for a while longer before she reached the point when she could no longer recognize him. In the end, he sat just out of her reach to ensure his fur stayed attached to his skin.

Finally, Nano and Nakamura entered the room. They'd been avoiding it more and more as Hakase's condition progressed.

"Hey! It's about time you guys got here!" The black cat snapped. Nano didn't meet his gaze, and she was oddly quiet. That wasn't a good sign. "Nano? What is it?" He asked her. She ignored him still, and instead she started crying. "Nano! Answer me! What's wrong?" He demanded.

"Sakamoto…Its Hakase…She…" Nano tried to explain, but her eyes began to sting with tears that she tried relentlessly to wipe away. Nakamura decided to finish for her.

"She…isn't going to make it." Sakamoto felt his heart sink, as if into the depths of a dark sea.

"What did you say..?"

"She's as good as dead. She's passed that last stage of transformation." Nano was bawling out synthetic tears now, and not long after, her legs gave out, and she lost the strength to stand.

"..No. NO!" Sakamoto yelled, as if arguing with the nature of things could make god change his mind.

"She isn't Hakase anymore, she died a few hours ago already. All that's left is the sickness that keeps her heart pumping." Nakamura explaind.

"No! It isn't true! I heard her say my name two seconds ago! She's still in there! There has to be more time!" He yelled. It seemed that Nakamura was tired of arguing with a cat. She finally, pushed him aside, and reached for the useless antidote that had been continuously pumping into her bloodstream. Sakamoto scratched her hand away, and hissed madly. "No! I won't let you kill her! She's only a child!" He yelled. Nakamura pulled her injured hand up to her chest, and glared at the cat hatefully as she pressed the open scar against herself.

"I've had more than enough of your shit!" She yelled. With her free hand, Nakamura reached out and ripped Sakamoto's scarf off of his neck. The cat hissed as his gift of human speech was suddenly revoked. "You think I want to? I don't! But it needs to be done! If I don't stop her now, she'll try to kill us!" Nakamura spat.

"Nakamura sensei… Please don't yell at him." Nano pleaded, as she slowly regained the ability to speak, without sad tears clogging up her throat. Nakamura stopped yelling, but hardly seemed noticeably calmer.

"I've already informed Misato of our failure. She'll deal with this before it gets out of hand." She said. Sakamoto hissed at the teacher, but it was far less threatening when he couldn't form words.

"Can't we just…Take her far away? Where she can't hurt anybody?" Nano suggested. "She hasn't even done anything yet!"

"We can't go soft now." Misato said, as she just entered the room. All eyes darted toward the pistol in her hand.

"No…No, please!" Nano screamed, running up to her and grabbing a fistful of her uniform to cry into. Misato brushed the android away, and turned to Nakamura. Nakamura nodded, then looked away. Apparently, she somehow still couldn't watch what she herself said was best. Misato didn't care, and slowly, she approached the kid.

"NO!" Nano yelled. She jumped up in front of the girl, and defended her helpless master. "There must be some other way!" She yelled. Sakamoto moaned sadly in agreement. Misato would have lost her temper then. But, instead of ignoring the robot, and telling it that there was no other way, she was calm, and said,

"No, there isn't. She has to die. Its's best for all of us."

"NOT FOR ME!" Nano screamed. Her synthetic voice rang throughout the building, and its many floors and rooms. Unlike a human, her vocal range wasn't limited to the comparatively quieter screams of a living thing. She could have yelled loud enough to render Misato's ears worthless.

"Alright, fine." She said, lowering the gun. Nano's spirits lifted, until Misato lifted the gun again, this time holding it by the barrel, for her to receive. "You do it then."

"…No…NO!" Nano yelled, pushing it away.

"If you don't have the guts to kill her, I _will_!" Misato informed her. "You have twenty seconds." Nano stared blankly up at her, until Misato started counting down from twenty. Nano didn't need her gun though. Her missing arm revealed her own weapon, which was only ever filled with beans before. Since then, Nano had made adjustments. Never intending to fight, but for self defense. She never would have expected to use it like she was now. Nano stood up, and walked to Hakase's bedside.

Hakase was definitely at the end of the transformation. The only color in her entire body had to be the thinnest tone of gold in her otherwise grey hair. Her skin was no longer smooth, and young. Now it was crusty, and wrinkly, like an old woman's flesh. The professor glanced up at Nano with soulless eyes, and a thick hiss made from the phlegm clogging her throat spat out at Nano. She momentarily considered turning, and shooting Misato instead, and then sneaking

Hakase out of the building to safety. But… She was unsure whether she wanted to go that far to save a dead girl.

"Hakase. Remember when I made you take medicine, and you were mad, because I didn't make Sakamoto take any medicine?" Nano asked, her eyes leaking with another type of tear now. Hakase snapped crooked yellow teeth at her, hungrily. Nano didn't mind. She went on. "And I told you that sick people had to take their medicine…"

"Twelve…" Misato continued to count.

"You're very sick right now. And I'm so sorry that I have to do this." Nano sobbed. Hakse stopped snarling, and was quiet for a second. "But, I can't let you stay sick. I need to give you your medicine." Nano stood up straight, and cradled her gun arm with her other hand. "The truth is…You are my favorite, Hakase. I love you. You're more than my creator, you're like a little sister to me. And as your big sister, I won't let you suffer." By this point, Misato had stopped counting, either because she didn't want to pressure the heartfelt moment between the two, or simply because she didn't want to have to talk over Nano. Nano aimed the weapon, and despite her tear clouded vision, locked her target onto the small, dead girl.

"Nano…" Hakase said. The little girl smiled. It was the same smile she always had when she was given chocolate, or succeeded in setting a trap for her constant victim, Sakamoto. Nano almost didn't fire because of that smile. But she did. And in seconds, brain matter stained the walls.

Everyone was silent, until Sakamoto went out of the room, moaning at the top of his lungs. After a few seconds, Nano quietly left the room as well.

"I wish I hadn't seen that." Nakamura said, regretfully.

"Grow a spine. We can't afford to keep people without them alive around here." Miasto said, without any sign of sadness that a little girl just died before her eyes seconds ago. "Oh, and get this cleaned up while you're at it. We can't have the health room so dirty." She said. Misato left the room, and went on to go prepare a meal for herself from what rations she had.

Nano went on to the roof. Her tears were getting worse by the moment. She'd been programmed to have the most human-like tears, so naturally, it wasn't very pretty. Momentarily, she was joined by a black cat. Sakamoto meowed at her, but Nano refused to give him any attention. He nuzzled her arm, trying to comfort her. But he couldn't tell her that he thought she'd done the right thing, or that he was proud of her for doing it, or that he knew Hakase would be happy now. So, silence would have to do. Nano lifted him up finally, and held the cat in her arms.

"I'm okay now, sakamoto-san." She told him. He meowed in response. Nano laughed a little bit. "Yeah, I'm fine now. I think I just need to blow off some steam." She said. Nano looked out at the city. It was dark, and colorless. Almost like the city itself was a zombie now. Nano had never before been interested in zombie slaying, like Misato was. But, something had changed over the course of the last ten minutes. She'd defied her programming, and harmed her creator. The electrical circuit that kept her from doing that was broken. There was no telling what else had also been broken inside of her.

"Let's go, Sakamoto-san." Nano suggested.H


	9. Reaction

The big dog leapt into the air with all the grace of a fat bird as it clamped its canines around the flying disk. And just like every other time, it returned to its master and presented it as a gift, eager to catch it again for her.

"Mai-chan, you didn't bring me out here just to watch you play with your dogs, right?" Mio asked from the hood of an old rusty car she'd decided to rest on top of. As usual, Mai was quiet. Mio might have believed that Mai was ignoring her, if she didn't speak up finally.

"Mio-chan?" She asked, not turning away from the big fluffy dog. "When you realized that the dead were coming back to life, what did you and Yukko do?" Mio was slightly confused by the question, but answered nonetheless.

"Well, our families headed to a safer place, in Osaka to stay in, but Yukko and I wanted to try and stay relatively close to home, so that they had a place to come back to when all this was over. Why do you ask?"

"Do you know who in her family Yukko had to leave behind to be with you instead?" Mai asked, ignoring her question. Mio didn't like talking about yukko. After she'd only been dead for about two days, she was reluctant to have a conversation about it. But after ten seconds, of Mai staring at Mio, waiting for an answer, she gave in.

"Just her mom, I think." Mio answered. Mai-chan was quiet again. She rubbed under her dog's jaw, contemplating how Yukko had died for nothing. Mai didn't say anything, but Mio felt more and more that she was blaming her for the death of her friend. She stood up on top of the car, and yelled angrily. "I didn't want her to die, ok? I'm sorry for what I did, but it was an accident! I didn't want her to die any more than you did, but there isn't anything I can do now! So…" Mio stopped yelling, because about halfway through, Mai had turned her head away, and at first, she assumed she was just ashamed to look at her, but now she heard Mai-chan crying.

Mio couldn't remember ever seeing Mai-chan cry before. Ever. Of all the three of them, Mai had always been the most expressionless. She laughed, and smiled occasionally, but never showed any more emotion than that. It was weird to see her like this. Mio couldn't say anything else after that. Knowing she was to blame for Yukko's grotesque, bloody end. The image of her broken body smeared on the concrete street still haunted the back of her mind. Mai had stopped crying at this point. After a silence, she addressed Mio once more.

"Mio-chan."

"Yes?" Mio answered, surprised by the level of calm in her voice.

"After what's happened to Yukko, I have no reason to stand beside you, in battle, or anywhere. I can't trust you to keep me safe any better than you did Yukko. Do you understand?" Mio grimaced when the words reopened the scar over her heart.

"Yes, I understand." Mio answered. It was strange that the last friend she had in the world still mattered after all that had happened. Staying alive should have been her main priority. Suddenly, she remembered something. Mio reached into her pocket, and pulled out a tiny slip of paper. She recognized the hand writing of all her three friends, Mai-chan, Nano, and Yukko. Beneath that was written, "Good for one lifetime friendship". She held the paper up to her chest and soon it was dampened with her tears.

Nano rushed down the back ally with the black cat trailing behind her. The lack of rotting corpses was a sure sign that the zombies were in doors. Nano had been running down the streets of the city for an hour, and not a single spawn from hell had made its presence known. It became obvious that her lack of brain matter was mostly to blame for that.

"Sakamoto-san, could you find some zombies, please?" Sakamoto hissed angrily. Nano had almost forgotten that his scarf had been taken. However, she had to admit, it was a nice change for him to not be talking. "I'm, sorry. I guess that's not so important." She continued walking down the street, with the black cat close behind, mimicking each footstep. "After all," she went on, "We know who we're looking for." She said. Sakamoto looked up at her just long enough to glimpse a spark of electricity surge from an open circuit on her neck. He meowed to get her attention, but Nano couldn't understand, so he gave up. I couldn't be that important anyway. It was just an open circuit. She'd find it eventually.

As they went around one last corner, they saw it. On the roof, was a sign that read in old font, "Shinonome laboratory". Nano smiled.

"You ready to blow some steam?" She asked. Sakamoto nodded. He glared hatefully at the house, his heart filled with enough desire for revenge to fuel a warlord's heart. Nano entered the house first. Sakamoto waited outside, where he could watch Nano from the window, but wouldn't draw unwanted attention. Nano walked casually through a crowed of undead. They totally ignored her, like she was one of the lifeless objects within the house.

Some of them looked like adults. There were women, and men. Their head's cracked open, and their arms and legs hanging unhinged off their sockets. There were also some children. Staring lifelessly into the walls, gaping holes in their torsos, from when they'd lost their lives. Nano felt no sorrow for any of them. No remorse for their lose. Not even any regret on their behalf for what they could no longer feel. She entered the main room, and that's when she snapped.

A little zombie girl was crouched over Hakase's old chair. Just as she was crawling into it, Nano ran over, and beat her over her already caved in skull with her gun arm.

"DON'T YOU DARE SIT THERE!" Nano yelled. She turned around, expecting them to acknowledge her, and advance at her. But, it was like she was invisible. They totally ignored her. She had no flesh to eat, and no scent of blood. She didn't exist as far as they were concerned. The open circuit on her neck produced another stray spark.

"LOOK AT ME!" Nano demanded, running to another zombie, and shooting its head off. They continued to ignore her, only reacting when they were killed again. Sparks began to fly out of her neck, and she moved from one to the next as quickly as her joints would allow. Every one she saw, looked like the one who had destroyed what promising life that had remained in her young master. They were all to blame, every last one of the fuckers. She beat them over the head, blew their brains out, and even began punching them with her free hand just to make them die. But still, not a single one would pursue her. It was like she wasn't good enough for them.

"LOOK AT ME, YOU BASTARDS!" Nano screamed. Her weapon suddenly changed then. It fired more rapidly, and the explosions hat proceeded them were more fiery, and less cloudy. Presently, a rug in the hallway was caught on fire. The house was soon up in flames. The zombies screamed, as what little flesh and bone protected their skulls was eaten away by the blazing fire. Nano stood in the open flames, watching them fall to the ground and the fire cook their skin black. Nano smiled. It was almost… funny to her.

A warning system in her mainframe instructed her to evacuate the burning building. The sparks stopped flying, and Nano regained her sensibility. She vacated the lab, and as soon as she left, she saw Sakamoto clawing at a zombie's skull. His claws were hardly suitable for cutting through bones and flesh however. He saw Nano, and jumped up onto her shoulder, for a faster ride home.

Sakamoto meowed impatiently at her. She assumed her was asking something like, _what kept you for so long?_ As Nano ran away from the inferno, and back toward the school she did her best to answer.

"Sorry, Sakamoto-san. I don't know what came over me." She answered. Nano took a familiar route to school. At a better time, she would have been wearing her uniform. She was filled with nostalgia as she ran down the vacant street. She stopped suddenly. Sakamoto meowed indignantly, but Nano ignored him. She reached out behind her back, and felt the enormous, unnecessary screw protruding from her back. Nano felt the cold iron, and thought of all the two years of her "life" She'd wanted nothing more than for it to be gone. Now, she couldn't imagine herself without it.

Sakamoto meowed again in her ear.

"I know, I know, just a minute." Nano told him, dismissively. Sakmoto jumped off her shoulder, and started running down another road. "Hey, wait! That isn't the way!" Nano yelled. Nano chased after the cat, and unsuccessfully tried to catch up with him. She followed him until they came to an old ware house. Nano was panting, regretting her decision to install a fatigue program in herself. "Sakamoto…What's with you?" She asked. The black cat walked over to the door and rubbed his back against it. Nano didn't understand, but after a moment of silence, she heard yelling coming from the inside. Nano reached for the entrance, but found that the door was sealed shut.

Growing impatient, she stepped back, and held up her gun arm to the door. Sakamoto ran off to safety, and in moments, the door had been reduced to rubble and smoke. Nano coughed dust out of her throat, as she stepped through the opening.

"Shhhh! Did you hear that?" A voice called, echoing throughout the warehouse.

"I-I-It sounds like they got in!"

"No way! I spent hours sealing the door!" Nano considered calling out to them, and letting them know that she wasn't a zombie. But before she could open her mouth to call out to them, a rig was set off, and Nano was sent flying at the wall. A failsafe in her skull was all that separated her from a fatal concussion.

"Did we get it?"

"I'll check it out." Nano heard footsteps echo throughout the room, but her brain couldn't focus on it. Sakamoto ran up to her, and meowed with deep concern in his voice. Nano wanted to reassure him that she was fully functional, but somehow, when she tried to speak it came out in German. Sakamoto looked at her with even more concern. Nano shook her head, trying to convey that she was alright, but when she tried to stand, she fell over at once. Sakamoto began to meow for help.

Annaka cautiously looked over a pile of wood, holding a shotgun in her hands. She expertly looked over the pile, and at once, saw Nano and the cat.

"Ehhhhhh?"

"What is it, Annaka-chan?"

"It isn't a zombie! It's a normal girl!" Annaka called back. Annaka didn't lower the weapon however. She approached Nano, and examined her body for any open wounds. More specifically, for any bite marks.

"Actually, I'm not a normal girl. I'm a robot." Nano confirmed, having just discovered how to speak in clear Japanese.

"And she's crazy." Annaka added. "But I can't find any bite marks."

"Well, for god's sake, let's help her out!" The voice of a woman called back in response. Nano looked up and saw Sakurai-sensei coming into view.

"Nano-chan?" Sakurai muttered in surprise. Then her eyes darted to Nano's right arm, that was cut off at the end, and replaced with the barrel of a gun.

"What's all the fuss about?" Takasaki-sensei also came into view, and he also noticed Nano's missing hand at once.

"Listen, you guys should come with me. Up at the school, we have supplies, and a whole lot of survivors. You might be better off staying there." Nano suggested.

"The school? Why is that place any safer?" Annaka asked.

"A lot of people gathered there, and built an electrical fence to go around the whole place. It's the best place to go." Nano said. The three of them exchanged looks. Finally, Takasaki sighed.

"Well, I guess we should pack our supplies."

"I'll bring the car out." Annaka said. She ran off further into the building to retrieve said car.

"Sakurai, we need to pack our things." Takasaki told her. Sakurai hesitated to leave Nano alone, after she'd just nearly evaded a fatal head injury.

"Go ahead, I'm fine." Nano reassured her. Sakurai nodded, and slowly left to help load supplies onto the truck Annaka had started. As soon as no one was looking, Nano coughed up a liter of oil. The black fluid stank up the whole building in a few seconds. Sakamoto started meowing again.

"It's alright, Sakamoto. I told you I'm…" She stopped mid sentence. Something caught her attention. "Sakamoto-san…" She asked. "Why is everything red?"


	10. Expectation

Of all the people she could have gone with to retrieve supplies, of all the people who could possibly have accompanied her into the city to sift through the wreckage to find food, somehow, the universe had decreed that he be the one to join her. Misato quietly cursed her luck as she walked. The closer areas had already been stripped of all usable resources, so she and Sasahara had to travel further in search of food.

Ever since what he said to her the last time they spoke, Misato had utilized every object and excuse she could in order to avoid him, and therefore his statement as well. She felt as though the words, "I love you" deserved a response. But she just couldn't bring herself to answer him at all. And so, the air between them steadily became more and more awkward.

Eventually, they came to an old building that looked like it had not yet been scavenged.

"You remember the plan right? Look for seeds. We need food to be a renewable resource." Misato reminded him without making eye contact. She wasted no time in climbing up onto the roof of the building, away from him. He didn't protest as she left him alone. But he clearly wasn't thrilled with being away from her, despite all the strings he had to pull in order to go with her in the first place.

She could say that she decided to stay on the roof in order to keep an eye out, but in reality, avoiding Sasahara was her only reason. She quietly cursed herself for being so compromised by someone like him. It was pathetic. She was supposed to be the one who didn't need to find love, the one who could survive this apocalyptic hell alone if necessary. But he disproved that only by existing.

Misato put the gun down on the ground, and kicked a pebble around the roof. It helped to keep her mind from wandering too far. But it wasn't likely to help much. She stopped when suddenly she heard a crack coming from the surface she stood on. She reacted quickly, and rushed to grab her weapon before the roof collapsed beneath her. She narrowly missed her gun by a few inches, and fell downward with the flimsy, old and unkempt ceiling material. She pulled her arms and legs inward as she fell, and absorbed the impact with her back when she hit the ground.

She felt her weight smash against the ground, her fall broken only by various bits of roofing and dust. She gasped for air after she hit the ground. Her lungs deprived of oxygen. The first thing she heard was his voice, calling her name. It was the last thing she wanted to hear. Not now. He'd never called her name so urgently before. It took a few seconds for the dust to settle. When it did, she saw his hand, reaching out to her. Misato slapped it away, and crawled away from him, as if in fear.

Kojiro looked down at her with surprise, and concern. Misato only looked up at him, refusing his touch. Like a true gentleman, he didn't try to persuade her to take his hand. But disappointment was clearly displayed on his facial features.

"Why?" He asked. He wasn't whining, or complaining. He simply wanted to understand why she refused to accept his feelings. Misato shook her head, her eyes growing teary by the moment.

"Because," She said. "I can't afford to love you!" She screamed. The room was quiet, and the light pouring in through the dust falling slowly only added to the sense of silence between them. "Believe me, Kojiro. Once, I wanted nothing more than to be able to love you, and to know that you felt the same. But that was when we knew we could live our lives without being afraid of dying! Times have changed! I _can't _love you! It would be too dangerous for us to love each other." Misato felt so childish, having to say that. It just didn't seem to fit. At the end of the world, love didn't matter so much. So why? Why did her heart feel so much lighter after confessing that?

Kojiro didn't argue with her. That was the worst part. She would have loved to be wrong. Or be convinced that there was some way they could still be together. But even he didn't seem to have an argument for it.

"You're right." He said. Never had there been more hurt condensed into two words. They felt like one of her guns had backfired on her. "It is very dangerous for you to love me. Our lives are hanging by weak threads. In a few days, I could be dead, and there isn't any way to know. It would be a waste to love someone who died right after deciding you loved them."

"If you understand that…Why do you keep trying to change my mind?" Misato asked, her eyes dripping with tears. "Why do you make it harder for me to make the right decision?" Gradually, he began closing the distance between them both.

"Because," He began. "The fact that I might lose you, makes me realize how important you are to me. And even if it only lasts a day, I want there to be a time when we can both be in love. A time when I don't have to hide my feelings because I feel worried about pressuring you, and a time when you don't need to pretend you don't care for me for my sake. Because I don't want to lose you before I've had a chance to live that day."

"That day might never come." Misato said. Her eyes were glued to him, and though every muscle in her body wanted to find its way to him, she refused to move.

"Then I'll wait for you." He said sweetly.

_This is bad. This is very bad!_ Sakamoto thought, as Nano cleared her throat of tar. Without his scarf, there was no way he could get help. And Nano wasn't going to admit she needed it.

"Takasaki! Her eyes are all weird!" Annaka said, after she'd come to see how Nano was doing.

"Draw them in!" He shouted over his shoulder. Annaka sighed. She was tired of hearing that answer.

"Are you all right?" She asked Nano. Nano nodded, but her features didn't agree with her at all. Her leg was twitching slightly, and her eyes were darker than usual. Annaka looked unconvinced, but couldn't do anything about it, so she let it slide, and headed back to the adults. "Hey! Are we ready to g-." She stopped just before finishing her sentence. She saw Sakurai wrapped tightly in Takasaki's arms, and quickly hid behind a pile of scrap metal, and pretended not to have interrupted them. She couldn't leave though, with the risk of knocking something over, and being heard. So, hiding behind the wall of junk, she unwillingly heard the conversation between them.

"I-I was worried that we would never see any other survivors." Sakurai said.

"It'll be just fine now. I'm sure this whole thing is nearly at an end."

"Ehhhh?" Annaka whispered. She still wasn't quite used to their public displays of affection.

"Meow, Meow. Meow!" Sakamoto said, getting the attention of the strange people. Sakurai and Takasaki stepped away from each other when Annaka coughed, and stepped out of her hiding place.

"We should get going now!" Annaka said. Takasaki nodded, and climbed into the truck. The back of the truck was already filled with enough rations, bullets, and medical care kits to last the whole group at the school for a week. Annaka and Takasaki helped Sakurai into the car. Annaka ran over to Nano, and lifted her onto her back, holding her shot gun on the strap over her neck. There was only room for her and Annaka in the back, where the luggage was kept. It was dangerous to sit there, but there weren't any other options. As Annaka found a place for Nano to rest among the supplies, Annaka only had enough room to stand up precariously among it, holding onto a heavy bag for support.

"Ready!" Annaka announced. Takasaki started the car, and slowly drove out of the building, to the road.

"Sakamoto-san!" Nano called out to the cat. He jumped up into the back of the car, and landed in Nano's arms, just before Takasaki revved the engine, and started speeding down the road toward the school. The speed would kill any zombie in their path, but made the trip especially dangerous for the passengers. Especially Annaka. But she managed to hold a tight grip on the bag enough to keep her on the car. Soon, the school was in sight.

Misato and Sasahara were walking back to the school, carrying the items they'd scavenged with them in black garbage bags.

"What's that?" Misato asked, pointing to an unfamiliar vehicle on the inside of the fence.

"Maybe someone found it in good enough condition to use." Kojiro suggested, hesitant to be too optimistic. Misato ran faster to see what it was all about, and Sasahara followed closely behind her. Upon reaching the walls, they were greeted with one of the guards, calling down from the watch tower.

"Tachibana! Nano-chan brought back three survivors!" He informed her.

"You're kidding! Who?" She asked.

"Two of the old teachers here, and some girl." He said.

"Let me in!" She said. The electric fence was shut down for a few minutes while Misato and Sasahara got inside. They arrived in time to see Sakurai sensei getting out of the car.

"ah, Misato-chan! You're here too?" Sakurai said, when she turned and saw her. Misato was startled to hear the nickname "chan" added to the end of her name. Some random student who heard it snickered under his breath. Misato heard him.

"You! Take these rations and put them in the freezer!" She commanded.

"Yes, Tachibana-san." He said, and went to retrieve supplies from the truck.

"Are you in charge or something, kid?" Takasaki asked. The crowed of people who had gathered to see the survivors became silent suddenly.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Misato answered. "And that means you also answer to me as long as you're here." Misato informed him. Takasaki obviously wasn't used to having someone younger than him in charge. He sighed with annoyance.

"Daiku, please explain to these newbies how things work around here."

"Sure thing!" Daiku answered.

"Where's Nano?" Misato asked.

"She's with Nakamura. Apparently, she got hurt." Sekiguchi said. Evidently, the explanations didn't clarify everything. Takasaki walked over to Misato, with a question Daiku hadn't been able to answer apparently.

"What is it?"

"Well…" He began, nervously. "Me and Sakurai are sort of…together. So, we need to share a room."

"I don't like making exceptions to any of my rules. Give me a better reason I should let this slide."

"I shouldn't have to ask permission to be with Sakurai from anyone, especially a child!" He yelled. Misato was about to retort, but Sakurai stepped in before she could.

"It's alright, I have a good reason." She said.

"What?" Misato asked. Sakurai didn't say anything, but met eyes with Misato directly. It was like they were speaking telepathically. Four seconds passed before Misato's face turned pink. "R-r-r-really?" She asked, dumbfounded. Sakurai smiled. Takasaki, Sasahara, and everyone else within proximity might as well have had a question mark floating over their head. Misato coughed, and then said in a more level tone, "Well, there is a room on the main floor you can use, next to the nurses office, where Nakamura is acting as the doctor currently. You can use that room." She said.

"Thank you." Sakurai said.

"On one condition." Misato added. "Let's…try not to make it a huge deal." Sakurai nodded in agreement. As Takasaki and Sakurai walked away, he asked,

"What did you tell her?" Sakurai leaned over, and whispered in his ear. "EEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?" The sound of his surprise echoed throughout the school. Sakurai hushed him before he spilled the beans, but it was now obvious that something interesting was going on.

"Get back to work!" Misato ordered them, before it could sink in, and they could figure it out.

"Can I ask what all that was about?" Sasahara inquired. Misato turned a bit more pink again, and dragged Kojiro off where no one else could hear. She let go of his hand, and spun around to face him.

"Isn't it obvious? She's pregnant!"


End file.
